by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

AT THE WATER COOLER: Kansas arguably has the NCAA tournament résumé of a No. 1 seed as of today, but that could surely change in the next five days during the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

The Jayhawks, coming off their 10th consecutive regular-season league title, might be the most questionable team heading into the NCAAs. Based on flashes of greatness, this team has the ceiling to win it all.

But unlike a freshmen-laden Kentucky team that's yet to mature at a rate to make us believe in their upside, Kansas has been the exact opposite. Freshman stars Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid have shown take-over ability ... that make us scratch our heads wondering how KU lost eight games.

Expecting a still-blossoming Embiid to make an immediate impact in his return appearance during the NCAA tournament - and expecting him to be the Embiid we saw in January - is not smart. Even a Chicago Bulls team welcoming back Michael Jordan midseason couldn't win a title. Fans tend to ignore chemistry. But did Kyrie Irving's return carry Duke to the promised land in 2010? Almost, but no.

The Big 12 Tournament will be telling. The Jayhawks could draw Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals. KU lost to OSU 72-65 on March 1 on the road, and the Cowboys are starting to look like the team that had high expectations ... before a seven-game losing streak during which Marcus Smart was suspended for an altercation with a fan.

Said coach Bill Self of Embiid's loss, "Our team will rally around this."

They'll need to.

ALREADY DANCING: Three teams won their conference tournaments on Monday, securing automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. Eight teams have earned trips to the Big Dance.

WORDS OF THE DAY: "You gotta sustain your defensive effort; you gotta be scrappier. In other words, we all gotta be playing the ball and we all gotta do it for the entire shot clock. We've all gotta have discipline, because at the end of the day, we are a defensive team that's a good offensive post-up team. ...And then on offense, we just gotta share the ball more. Very simple stuff to talk about, but we've got four days to really ingrain: Let's get back to these things that we have done at different points in the year that we now say, 'Let's do it for 40 minutes.' If you do, you will have a ball playing. Scrappy as heck, diving, crashing." - Kentucky coach John Calipari on his team getting its "mojo" back.

DAYS UNTIL SELECTION SUNDAY: 5.

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Scott Gleeson, a national college basketball writer/digital producer for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.